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I have been out of DIY for around 11 years, since my divorce from a controlling wench. I had been patronizing my friendly local Saab dealer for both sales & service. They closed.
Now I have a'99 9-5 and a '06 9-5. The '06 has free maintenance through the warranty period. The '99 has a few issues, like a seat heater that won't turn off and the drivers window just flops around off the track.
I bought service manuals and parts off ebay to fix things up.
The point of all this chatter is that I found I really enjoy all this.
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I hope you have found a healthy substitute.
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Good for you. Back in college DIY auto repair was pretty much the only option for me and I learned a lot. I still do most of the stuff on my car, but it's nice to have the option of taking it to a shop when you need something done.
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Good for you! Hopefully it will be very fulfilling for you, especially the sense of satisfaction you'll get from fixing things yourself!
Good luck!
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Congrats. As of today I can't get the gas door open on my car. While I'd love to not have to put gas in it anymore, it just doesn't seem to be an option. The cable end near the pull-lever has no adjustment ...
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So you're graduating from the controlling wench to controlling a wrench ? Good for you.
deckeda- for the gas door, squirt a little WD-40 into the door, aiming around for the latch area. Smack it a few times to see if it unlatches. In extremis you can get in there with a tool and yank the cover off, but you might not be able to get it back on.
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[quote cbelt3]So you're graduating from the controlling wench to controlling a wrench ? Good for you.
deckeda- for the gas door, squirt a little WD-40 into the door, aiming around for the latch area. Smack it a few times to see if it unlatches. In extremis you can get in there with a tool and yank the cover off, but you might not be able to
get it back on.
My guess- Either the cable is not pulling the locking pin far enough or the door is not springing open. You can try pulling the cable a little farther with some pliers.
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Got it open last night and drove to the gas station this morning looking like a dork with the door open.
The trick was to have a helper pull the release lever while pushing on the part of the door to the left of the hinge area, effectively pushing the door open.
The spring that pushes the door open is a piece of straight metal that's clipped to the door. It "looks" OK but might be weak. The pin that retracts when the cable is pulled "looks" OK but might have some roughness to it that's making it catch on the door.
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deckeda-
I had the same thing happen on my Honda. Wash out the compartment, then liberally spray the catch and assembly with lubricant (not WD-40, it's too hydrophilic). In my case it was a buildup of gasoline gunk that did it. Cleaning it out did the trick.
